University of Virginia Library

230.

[Master, for Thine we cannot own]

The labourers are few. —ix. 37.

Master, for Thine we cannot own
The workmen who themselves create,
Their call receive from man alone
As licensed servants of the state,
Who to themselves the honour take,
Nor tarry till Thy Spirit move,
But serve for filthy lucre's sake
The souls they neither feed nor love.
In vain in their own lying words
The haughty self-deceivers trust,
The harvest's and the vineyard's lords
In vain their true succession boast,
Their lawful property they claim
The apostolic ministry,
But only labourers in name
They prove they are not sent by Thee.